I knew 'Mars Needs Moms! ' would be a movie seconds after the title came to mind. Similarly, I also knew that my daughter would be calling me a dork as a default term of endearment eventually.

That's the conundrum of cartoon stripping, as opposed to political cartoons. When your anger is the driving force of your drawing hand, failure follows. The anger is OK, but it has to serve the interests of the heart, frankly.

My post-child period resulted in one instant change: I write shorter books for kids.

Some of us find our lives abridged even before the paperback comes out.

But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance.

Relationships are so important to me. Talking to someone, listening to them, and even writing a handwritten note or giving someone a picture in a frame has become a lost art because we are inclined to just do it all through technology.

Criticism, maybe cynicism, is just rampant in music, in creativity. Everybody has a perception and a set of opinions based on what that piece of music is doing to them internally.

The artist in me welcomes another opportunity to be creative.